Their Final Summer
by IrinaWithAnI
Summary: Early 7th year. Post HBP. Draco has lost his reason for living. Can Harry stop him from doing something drastic? Implied slash. HPDM. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer**: Unfortunately, I do not own Harry Potter or Draco Malfoy (if I did, I'm sure they'd be much...happier...). Please don't sue.

**Warning**: Suicide/Angst

**A/N**: I'd like to thank my beta, nycegurl, for helping me with this!

"Their Final Summer"

Draco Malfoy calmly walked into his private dormitory room, locking the door behind him.

He let his eyes trail around the room, taking in the four poster black bed (complete with silver hangings) that stood imperiously against the back wall, a dark green dragon, Draco's namesake, painted on the left wall, and the immaculate, black desk gracing the wall to the right.

It would all have to go.

He lifted his wand high in the air and muttered a few choice words. The room was emptied of all possessions, of Draco's past. The stone dungeon flooring and walls were replaced with wood, and in the center of the room stood a lone mahogany chair with a rope lying at its feet. A sturdy pipe appeared attached to the ceiling, running the length of the room.

Draco took a few measured steps toward the chair and began to open the bundle he had been clutching all along. Out of the brown paper package came thirteen long, tapered black candles, matches, a glass bottle of the strongest firewhiskey available only in the Wizard Black Market, and a small orange Muggle container filled with white round objects that looked suspiciously like pills.

Draco surrounded the room with the candles and methodically lit each one. The firewhiskey and pills were placed next to the chair as Draco took another look around.

_Everything seems right, _Draco thought as his gray eyes absorbed the transformation of his room.

He wasn't taking any chances this time.

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A green-eyed boy sat up in his bed with a gasp. His golden skin was drenched with sweat and it took him a few seconds to become aware of his surroundings.

_What was that dream, _thought Harry Potter frantically. There had been fire, blonde hair, a wooden chair, and…and…it was all a blur.

_It felt so real. _

Harry shook his head and rolled over onto his side, peeking at the owl clock on his bedside table. He had already missed breakfast, and deciding that resistance was futile, he closed his eyes and attempted to dream again.

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Draco Malfoy took a seat in the new room he had fashioned and slowly picked up the firewhiskey and the bottle of pills.

He twisted open the orange container and gradually extracted its contents, observing each powder-white pill with morbid curiosity.

As though he was a man who had seen his horrifying fate and finally accepted it, Draco resignedly swallowed each pill one by one, and washed it down with the bitter-tasting firewhiskey.

He grasped the rope he had summoned from his secret trunk in Malfoy Manor, already fashioned into a noose and waiting for its first victim. Draco attached it to the pipe along the ceiling and gave it a few quick tugs to ensure its durability.

Face still expressionless, Draco walked towards the nearest candle and kicked it with his leather-clad foot. The black candle tipped over and the red fire just barely flickered against the floor, but it was enough; the wood had lit.

Standing upon the chair, Draco lifted tired hands and tediously placed the noose around his neck.

His eyes strayed to the red and blue dancing flames slowly engulfing his once beloved bedroom.

A single tear betrayed his apparently emotionless existence as it traveled past his pale cheek until Draco tasted the salt.

Within the flames, Draco remembered.

He remembered the end of the last school year, his failure in accomplishing the one task he had been raised to do.

He remembered the Dark Mark being unapologetically etched into his skin as he screamed with agony and regret.

He remembered turning away from his father, the Death Eaters, and Voldemort, as he cowardly fled to members of the Order.

He remembered the relief…and then the summer filled with promise.

In the flames, he saw the friendship bloom with one unexpected person. He saw closeness gathering, hands brushing past hands, awkward smiles, and emerald eyes.

_Those eyes…_

The first kiss, tentative and soft, filled with the promise of a future.

The laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation.

The passion that bloomed with each second of each minute of each day.

The tears they cried together, the fights they had…the slaps…the kicks…the bites.

The secrets furtively shared, and the secrets that were kept, locked inside each boy, because they could not tell even if they wanted to.

And then…the end.

Draco watched the memory in the fire, as the dark-haired, green-eyed boy turned his back and walked away... and Draco had felt a part of him…disappear.

It was over. Draco closed his eyes against the visions.

He couldn't take his useless existence anymore, the waiting until they would all inevitably die, the moment when Voldemort would discover he was a spy. He could not handle being pulled in two different directions as the only important part of his life faded away…_and he wasn't good enough to keep him. _

The fight was just not worth it anymore. There was no one left to fight for. _No one left to save. _

Draco opened his eyes and set his face, feeling the heat from the growing blaze.

He tightened the noose with steady, perfectly manicured fingers.

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Harry Potter ran down the steps at full speed, his heart pounding in panic as he grasped his wand with shaking hands.

_Please let that have been a dream. Please let it be a dream. Don't be real…don't be…_

He reached the door he sought and testing the lock, his eyes widened in horror as he pounded on the door, praying he wasn't too late.

"DRACO!!!!! DRACO, OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE GOD, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS".

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Draco heard the familiar voice and flashed his tired eyes, eyes that flickered silver in the flames, towards the locked door.

"It's too late, Harry."

"DRACO, NO IT'S NOT TOO LATE, PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME. OPEN THE DOOR!"

Draco closed his eyes again and whispered, knowing that Harry would hear him anyway.

"Thank you for the summer."

He took in his last breath, a breath of ash and bitterness, and stepped off the chair.

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Harry blasted the door open and stared at the vision before him.

The flames were climbing the walls at an alarmingly quick pace, like caterpillars running away from their cocoon fates.

He could see the brief outline of Draco's body before his eyes filled with smoke, but he rushed into the room anyway.

He frantically cast a water spell on the floors and walls before his eyes met with what they refused to believe.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Harry bellowed as his fumbling fingers grasped the body and pulled him down.

The scream was inhuman to all outside ears, and its owner was inhuman as well, a singular extinguished flame that had futilely fought the water for far too long.

Harry fell to what was left of the wooden floor, cradling the stillness of Draco's warm body in his weakened arms.

He cried for hours, like he had never cried before.

For every moment of happiness.

For every moment of peace.

For every moment lost.

For every moment of regret.

For Draco, because he did not deserve this.

And finally, for himself, because he needed this boy, this man in his arms.

But he had lost. Everything…He had lost the war against the Dark Lord, and he had lost this battle…this small battle for the only person Harry had left to love.

But the battle mattered more.

The savior of the wizarding world slowly leaned down and kissed the pale pink lips of a pale blonde-haired boy, lips that did not hold their usual sneer.

Harry felt their softness and their emptiness simultaneously.

_I was too afraid…and too unprepared…to love you before. Forgive me, please. _

Without registering any other sensation, Harry Potter fumbled for the wand he had lost in his last moments of passion.

He pointed it to himself and whispered the words he had been saving for that ultimate instant of failure.

_This was it. _

They found them there later that day, Harry Potter holding Draco Malfoy as if his life depended on it, although it did not anymore. They all marveled at the sight, and many shed tears.

Hermione Granger whispered final words before they were carried away, looking at the boys and smiling, refusing to cry. "They finally have their summer."

Fin

**A/N**: So this was my very first fic. I hope you guys like it. Review! Please...I'll give you a cookie. Also, I'm debating whether to write a full-length prequel to this...so let me know what you think! Gracias.


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